「私どもは志を同じうする女性の団結によって、愛・自由・協力による新社会の建設に努力します」
"We will strive to build a new society based on love, freedom and cooperation through the unity of women."

羽仁 もと子　女史
Ms. Motoko Hani
1873 - 1957
青森県八戸市　生誕
Born in Hatinohe-city, Aomori-Ken

羽仁もと子女史は日本における女性ジャーナリストの先駆けであり、家計簿ならびに主婦日記の考案者です。また、夫婦で自由学園および婦人之友社を創立。婦人主体の家庭と社会をつなぐ全国組織を展開します。
Motoko Hani is a pioneer among female journalists in Japan and the inventor of household account books and housewives' diaries. Together with her husband, she founded Jiyū Gakuen and Fujin-no-Tomo-sha. They developed a nationwide organization that connects women-centric households and society.
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明治時代の新しい女性文化の源泉『女学雑誌』を熱心に読んでいたもと子は、16歳で上京。キリスト教主義による明治女学校で学ぶため、築地明石町教会で洗礼を受け、『女学雑誌』主筆で明治女学校校長の岩本善治に学費の免除を手紙で懇願します。入学許可と共に女学誌の仮名つけの仕事をもらい、寄宿料に当てます。爆発的な人気を獲得した、岩本夫人である若松賤子女史による日本初訳のバーネット『小公子』は彼女が校正しています。また規則正しい寄宿舎生活は清々しく進歩的で深い印象を彼女に与えます。
もと子は入学翌年に帰郷して尋常小学校や盛岡女学校の教員をします。家族の反対を押し切って結婚するもまもなく離婚。再度上京し、同窓生である女医の吉岡弥生の家事手伝いをしながら、報知社（現・報知新聞社）の校正係に応募して職を得、日本で初めての女性ジャーナリストとなります。3年後に同僚の羽仁吉一と結婚。ふたりは同じ境遇の若い家庭にむけて、家庭生活誌『家庭之友』（後に「婦人之友」と改題）を創刊。家計簿、主婦日記を創案、予定と予算で筋道の立った生活を広めます。もと子は読者に、身近な人を集めて自主勉強会・読書会を開催することを呼び掛け支援。各地に友の会が生まれ、さらにもと子を中心に「全国友の会」が設立され、農村生活改善運動、北京生活学校、終戦後の引き揚げ者援護事業、各種展覧会や講習会の開催など、社会へ向けた様々な事業を展開します。
さらに娘のために文部省の高等女学校令によらない女学校自由学園を創立し、もと子は園長に就任します。詰め込み教育と子供自由主義教育を批判、本当の自由主義の教育を目指します。83歳で逝去するまでたくさんの著作を残しています。もと子の発想の実現には経営面で支える夫吉一のサポートが常にありました。
Motoko avidly read "Jogaku Zasshi," a source of new women's culture in the Meiji era. At the age of 16, she moved to Tokyo to attend a Christian-oriented Meiji Girls' School. She was baptized at the Tsukiji Akashicho Church and wrote a heartfelt letter to the chief editor of "Jogaku Zasshi" and the principal of Meiji Girls' School, Mr. Zenji Iwamoto, pleading for a waiver of tuition fees. She was granted admission and assigned the task of giving pen names to articles in the women's magazine, which helped cover her boarding fees. She was responsible for proofreading the first Japanese translation of Burnett's "Little Lord Fauntleroy," which was highly popular and translated by Mrs. Iwamoto, the wife of Mr. Zenji Iwamoto.
After one year of enrollment, Motoko returned home and became a teacher at an elementary school and at Morioka Girls' School. Despite her family's objections, she got married but soon divorced. She returned to Tokyo and, while assisting her medical school classmate, Dr. Yayoi Yoshioka, with household chores, she applied for a position as a proofreader at the Hokkoku Shimbun (currently Hokkoku Shimbun) and became the first female journalist in Japan. Three years later, she married her colleague, Yoshikazu Hane. Together, they launched the home life magazine "Katei no Tomo" (later renamed "Fujin-no-Tomo"), targeting young families. They introduced household account books and housewives' diaries, promoting well-organized living through planning and budgeting.
Motoko encouraged her readers to gather friends and organize study groups and reading circles. This initiative led to the establishment of "Zenkoku Tomo no Kai" (National Friends Association) with Motoko as a central figure. They engaged in various activities to improve rural living, establish the Beijing Life School, provide support for repatriates after the war, and host exhibitions and training sessions, among other social endeavors. 
Furthermore, to provide an education that deviated from the cramming education of the Ministry of Education's High School for Girls Ordinance, Motoko established the Free School Jiyū Gakuen and served as its principal. She criticized cramming education and promoted true liberal education for children. Until her passing at the age of 83, she left behind numerous writings. Throughout her endeavors, her husband, Yoshikazu, constantly supported her on the business front, enabling the realization of Motoko's ideas.

-羽仁もと子記念館　Motoko Hani Memorial Museum
-婦人之友社　Fujin no Tomo Sha
-自由学園明日館　Jiyugakuen Myonitikan
-自由学園　Jiyu Gakuen

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